Department for Transport

*No heading*

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to respond to the Office of Rail and Road's recommendations following Which?'s super-complaint regarding train companies and the compensation process for passengers affected by train delays.

Claire Perry: I welcome the publication of the Office of Rail and Road's (ORR’s) recommendations following Which?'s super-complaint. It is vital that customers who suffer delays understand their rights to compensation and have access to it in a timely way. Industry must now do much more to make that process quick and user-friendly. We are already working with the Association of Train Operating Companies and the ORR to bring about improvements, and my Department will respond to the ORR’s report in the summer of 2016.

Bus Services

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to present the new Buses Bill to Parliament.

Andrew Jones: Work continues on the drafting of the Bill. Its introduction will depend on the Parliamentary timetable, but we are working towards introducing the Bill in the next session.

European Rail Traffic Management System

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2015 to Question HL248, when  Network Rail is expected to complete the impact assessment of the European Rail Traffic Management System.

Claire Perry: Network Rail and Industry are evaluating the optimal deployment options for the European Rail Traffic Management System. These will be presented to the Department for Transport toward the end of 2016.

Heathrow Airport

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the proposed new flightpaths before a decision is taken on a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Mr Robert Goodwill: On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. We continue to consider all three schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow. The Government continues to consider the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report, including on flight paths, before taking any decisions on next steps. Ultimately, any proposals to alter the airport’s flightpaths would be subject to the Civil Aviation Authority’s Airspace Change Process.

Heathrow Airport

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at what stage in the decision making process regarding a third runway at Heathrow Airport he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on that matter.

Mr Robert Goodwill: On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. At the same time, it was also announced that the Department for Transport would undertake a package of further work which it anticipates will conclude over the summer. Alongside this, they would prepare an airports national policy statement as the framework for implementing decisions on airport capacity in line with the Planning Act 2008.

Heathrow Airport: Air Pollution

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of a third runway at Heathrow Airport on compliance with EU Air Quality limits.

Mr Robert Goodwill: On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. We continue to consider all three schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow. The Airports Commission published a large amount of analysis on air quality, which included an assessment of potential impacts on limit values, in its Final Report, which is available in the libraries of the House. In addition, as announced in December, we are testing the Airports Commission’s work on air quality against the Government’s new air quality plan, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee.

Roads: Litter

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Highways Agency on litter clearance on roads.

Andrew Jones: The Secretary of State discusses a range of issues in his regular meetings with the Chief Executive of Highways England. I also raised the issue of litter on roads with the Chief Executive at our most recent monthly meeting on 15 March 2016. Highways England actively monitors local authorities to ensure standards are maintained, as it is a local responsibility to clear litter on most of the A roads on the strategic road network. On the motorways for which Highways England is responsible, more than 150,000 sacks of litter are collected every year; an average of 411 bags every day at a cost of £40 per sack.

A1: Litter

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who is responsible for litter clearance on the A1.

Andrew Jones: Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Highways England is responsible for litter clearance on all England’s motorways and a few selected A roads or trunk roads for specific operational reasons. Local authorities are responsible for litter on all local roads, including the vast majority A roads on the strategic road network. Highways England is responsible for litter clearance on all sections of the A1(M). All sections of the A1 in England are cleared by the relevant local authorities, with the exception being of a short section of the A1 from the A1(M) junction 1 to the boundary between the Borough of Hertsmere and the London Borough of Barnet. Litter clearance of the A1 within the Greater London Authority boundary is the responsibility of Transport for London or the relevant London Boroughs. Litter clearance of the A1 in Scotland is a matter for the devolved administration.

Northern Rail: Subsidies

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much subsidy was paid to the operators of the Northern rail franchise in each financial year between December 2004 and April 2016.

Andrew Jones: Subsidies paid from 2004 to 2008: 2004/05 – 81.0 million (part year - December 2004 to March 2005)2005/06 – 278.2 million2006/07 – 168.5 million2007/08 - 119.3 million Figures from 2008 onwards are published on the Office of Rail and Road’s (‘ORR’) website at: http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/95218cca-408d-4047-83ce-a542c53b59e6. 2015-16 financial information will be made available following publication of Audited Statutory Accounts.

Home Office

Passports: Interviews

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce safeguards to prevent local authorities whose offices are used for HM Passport Office remote interviews from increasing the charge for using their accommodation.

James Brokenshire: The relationship of Her Majesty’s Passport Office with the local provider of the accommodation for remote interviews is managed through a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) which sets out the rights and responsibilities of both parties. Any changes to this MOU are discussed and agreed by both parties. Her Majesty’s Passport Office is not limited to working with Local Authorities.

Passports: Interviews

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguards are in place for HM Passport Offices which use local government buildings to conduct remote first time passport interviews to ensure the continuity of that service if those buildings are vacated by that local government.

James Brokenshire: The relationship of Her Majesty’s Passport Office with the local provider of the accommodation for remote interviews is managed through a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) which sets out the rights and responsibilities of both parties. Any changes to this MOU are discussed and agreed by both parties. Her Majesty’s Passport Office is not limited to working with Local Authorities.

Deportation

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) deportation and (b) forced removal processes were halted after the intended deportee had boarded their deportation flight and before that flight had departed in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

College of Policing: Finance

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department plans to allocate to the College of Policing for (a) digital media investigators and (b) the mainstreaming cyber-crime training in each of the next three years.

Mr John Hayes: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Proceeds of Crime

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been received by (a) her Department, (b) police forces, (c) the CPS and (d) HM Courts and Tribunal Service under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each year since 2010.

Mr John Hayes: The table below shows the total receipts for each department from all powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act in the financial year 1 April 2014-31 March 2015. The table includes data for England and Wales. The data for the Police also includes cash forfeiture receipts for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, but not confiscation receipts (under the devolution settlement, all confiscation receipts are retained by Northern Ireland, and the Home Office holds no data).Total value of receipts in each year (in millions)2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-15Home Office£77.94m£81.54m£76.07m£79.52m£84.71mPolice£28.43m£29.48m£24.45m£29.81m£25.62mCrown Prosecution Service£11.02m£15.13m£17.01m£18.43m£17.99mMinistry of Justice/HM Courts & Tribunal Service£11.84m£11.73m£12.78m£13.52m£15.54mAll other agencies£26.65m£25.19m£21.83m£17.75m£25.56mGrand Total£155.88m£163.07m£152.14m£159.03m£169.42m

Asylum

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 15 March 2016 to Questions 30647 and 30649, what the evidential basis is for the statement that her Department's policy enables thousands of people each year to be reunited with their families in the UK; and how many extended family members seeking family reunion have been granted asylum in exceptional circumstances by the Entry Clearance Officer in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: In the last three years, over 13,000 family reunion visas have been granted under the Immigration Rules. This information is available in the quarterly statistics published by the Home Office and available on Gov.UK here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015/list-of-tables#visasA further 65 visas have been granted outside the Rules due to exceptional circumstances.We have committed to making clearer in revised guidance the kinds of cases which may benefit from leave outside the Immigration Rules due to exceptional circumstances. The guidance will be updated by the end of April.

Special Constables: Insurance

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what insurance cover her Department and police forces make available for special constables who are injured on duty and require long-term compensation for loss of earnings.

Mike Penning: In order to ensure that special constables have legal protection, the Home Office provides legal assistance cover currently through Arc Legal Assistance. This is available to all special constables, free of charge, and includes personal injury cover including financial compensation for damages. It also includes cover for legal advice as well as representation at criminal proceedings.The Government recognise the importance of police welfare. In October 2014 we allocated £10 million to help support emergency services personnel and volunteers, focused on mental health, physical recuperation and bereavement support for those who need it.

Home Office: Judicial Review

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many judicial reviews against her Department have (a) been initiated and (b) were successful since 2010.

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost of defending judicial reviews brought against her Department has been since 2010.

Karen Bradley: No central records are kept of (i) the number of judicial reviews initiated against the department since 2010; (ii) the cost of defending such challenges; or (iii) the number of such challenges which have been successful. It would incur disproportionate cost to try to acquire this information.

Immigrants: English Language

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to caseworkers on handling applications from international students to study at UK colleges and universities in a way that ensures the applicants are not disadvantaged by accusation of fraud in English language tests made by ETS.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Harassment

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many harassment warning notices were issued by police forces in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and how many people who received such notices were subsequently prosecuted for harassment offences.

Mike Penning: The information requested is not collected centrally. The issuance of Police Information Notices (PINs) is an operational matter for police forces. Responsibility for the publication of information relating to PINs rests with Chief Constables.

Cannabis

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the quantity of cannabis recovered from cannabis factories in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the quantity of cannabis recovered specifically from cannabis factories in the UK. However, the Home Office does hold data on the total quantity of cannabis seized in England and Wales.The statistical release ‘Drug Seizures in England and Wales, 2014/15’ covers the number and quantity of drug seizures made by both police forces and Border Force in England and Wales from 2006/07 to 2014/15.The publication contains the number and quantity of seizures of herbal cannabis, resin cannabis, and cannabis plants for England and Wales only. The Home Office does not hold information centrally on the number of drug seizures in Scotland or Northern Ireland.The publication can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-2015Data specifically on the quantity of cannabis seizures, made by police forces and Border Force in England and Wales, can be found in Summary Table 2 of the data tables.Border Force publishes the number and quantity of seizures of drugs at the UK border on Gov.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-force-transparency-data-february-2016

Asylum: Turkey

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have been received from Turkish nationals in each year since 2006.

James Brokenshire: The number of asylum applications received from Turkish nationals (main applicants) in each year from 2006 to 2015, is detailed in the table below. Asylum applications received from Turkish nationals, for main applicants, 2006 to 2015YearTotal applications 2006426200720820081932009187201015520111702012190201325020142712015 (1)230Source: table as_01, Immigration Statistics, October to December 2015, Home Office.(1) 2015 figures are provisional and subject to revision. The Home Office publishes quarterly figures on asylum applications by nationality within the Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics, October to December 2015, is available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015

Police Custody: Interpreters

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police custody suites in the UK have technology to allow live-link interpretation; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of such interpretation.

Mike Penning: The Home Office does not collect this data. However, we support the use of video to minimise time spent in court and streamlined procedures that save time and money. The police and the wider Criminal Justice System need to meet the needs of a public who increasingly use technology in their day-to-day lives. They must have the tools and the skills to deal with digital information, to tackle crime, support victims and ensure swift justice.

Psychoactive Substances Act 2016

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when those parts of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 which have not come into force are expected to come into force; and what the reason is for the time taken to bring all provisions of that Act into force.

Karen Bradley: We expect to commence the Psychoactive Substances Act in its entirety in the spring. In line with the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, we are in the final stages of putting in place a programme of testing to demonstrate the psychoactivity of a substance prior to commencement of the Act. The timing of commencement has always been subject to consideration of all the activity necessary across the UK for the provisions to come into force

Domestic Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent the emotional abuse of women.

Karen Bradley: The Government has introduced a new offence of coercive or controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship which came into force on 29 December 2015. The offence carries a maximum of 5 years imprisonment. Guidance for professionals on the new offence was issued on 5 December 2015.The new offence will mean victims who experience coercive and controlling behaviour that stops short of serious physical violence, but amounts to extreme psychological and emotional abuse, can see their perpetrators brought to justice. Criminalising domestic abuse demonstrates this Government’s commitment to tackling all forms of abuse and improving the protection available to victims.

Cannabis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to prevent the growing of cannabis.

Karen Bradley: Growing cannabis, whether for personal use or organised supply, is illegal and those who do so can face significant jail sentences.The investigation and prevention of illegal cannabis cultivation is an operational matter for the police. The police use proactive operations and seizures to target dealers and the organised gangs behind illegal cannabis farms and promoting cooperation with all partners including the fire service, energy companies and the property sector.They are also working to continually improve their knowledge and understanding of the trade through activity-led intelligence gathering.

Knives: Young People

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent young people obtaining knives online.

Karen Bradley: Reducing violence including knife crime is a priority for this Government. In addition to our work with the police and other partners we are working closely with retailers to encourage the responsible sale of knives both in-store and online.There are already strict laws on the sale of knives and on how knives can be marketed. It is illegal to sell knives to anyone under 18 (except for folding knives with a blade that does not exceed 7.62cm). The Home Secretary chaired a roundtable with major retailers and the British Retail Consortium on 14 March to encourage them to sell knives more responsibly and discuss what steps they can take to ensure that they have strong age verification processes in place.On 23 March the Home Secretary announced agreement of a new set of principles with major retailers to prevent the underage sales of knives both in-store and online, together with commitments on staff training, safe displays, and sales in online marketplaces.The agreement is available online at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sale-of-knives-voluntary-agreement-by-retailersWe will be working with the British Retail Consortium to promote and extend the principles to other retailers.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Sri Lanka: Politics and Government

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the recent report by the Sri Lankan Centre for Policy Alternatives that more than 12,500 acres of land in the Northern Province remains occupied by the Sri Lankan military; what recent representations he has made to the Sri Lankan government on the restitution of land and reparations; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire: Since President Sirisena came to power in January 2015, the Sri Lankan Government has made efforts to return some military occupied private land to civilians. The UK has welcomed this. However, as the CPA report sets out, much more remains to be done. In January 2016, during my second visit in a year to Sri Lanka, I raised land returns in my meetings with the Government and reaffirmed our readiness to help it implement its commitments on reconciliation. I also met resettled families in the north, seeing for myself the progress that has been made as well as the challenges that remain. We will continue to encourage further land returns, a process the UK is contributing to through our support for demining in the north of the country.

Diplomatic Immunity

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in which instances embassies and high commissions in the UK have invoked the principle of diplomatic immunity in each of the last five years.

James Duddridge: Under Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction, except in limited circumstances specified in the Convention. Full statistics and details about instances when Embassies and High Commissions have invoked the principle of diplomatic immunity for the period specified are not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Such requests would cover instances where a member of the mission’s diplomatic or consular staff (or a member of their family forming part of their household) was the alleged offender, the alleged victim of a crime, or had witnessed a crime and police had sought a witness statement; or where police had sought witness statements from staff in relation to their official functions.

*No heading*

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the level of respect for freedom of religion in Nepal in the period after the adoption of its new constitution.

Mr Hugo Swire: The right to freedom of religion is enshrined as a fundamental right in article 26 (1) of the new constitution. We do however have concerns about the interpretation of the proposed legislation relating to Article 156 of the Penal Code, particularly around changing religion.Our Embassy in Kathmandu has publicly encouraged Nepali Members of Parliament to ensure that the political settlement meets Nepal’s international human rights obligations, including ensuring the protection of the right to change religion. During the 2015 UK-Nepal bilateral talks my officials also emphasised the importance that the UK places on the freedom to change religion.

Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether any Government ministers have requested that the sentences of (a) Ali al Nimr, (b) Dawood al Mahroon and (c) Abdullah al Zaher be commuted.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are very concerned about the cases of Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdallah al-Zaher. We have raised these cases with the Saudi Arabian authorities, most recently on 12 March, at a very senior level. Our expectation remains that they will not be executed.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 31489, what the date was of the most recent meeting at which the use of cluster munitions was raised with the Saudi Arabian government since the Convention on Cluster Munitions came into force on 30 May 2008.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The issue of Cluster Munitions was raised with the Saudis by Sir Alan Duncan, the Government’s Envoy on Yemen during his visit to Riyadh on 6 April 2016. In line with our obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, we continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it.

Libya: Military Intervention

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has (a) sought and (b) received permission for the use of (i) Italian or (ii) US facilities at Sigonella by RAF aircraft for operations in Libyan airspace.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We have had a long-standing presence at Naval Air Station Sigonella, and have made frequent use of it. However, it is not normal practice to comment on the details of arrangements with host nations.

Libya: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress the UN Support Mission in Libya has made on resolving the competing claims for (a) chairmanship of the Libyan Investment Authority and (b) governorship of the Central Bank of Libya.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: These matters are questions of Libyan sovereignty and we fully support the new Government of National Accord in resolving them.Resolution 2259 (2015), supported by the UK and adopted by the Security Council on 23 December 2015, highlighted the importance of these institutions continuing to function for the benefit of all Libyans, and stressed the need for the Government of National Accord to exercise sole and effective oversight over the National Oil Company, the Central Bank of Libya, and the Libyan Investment Authority as a matter of urgency, without prejudice to future constitutional arrangements pursuant to the Libyan Political Agreement.

Mossack Fonseca

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK Ambassador to Panama has held any meetings with representatives of the firm Mossack Fonseca since May 2010.

Mr Hugo Swire: No

Andargachew Tsege

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the legality of the death sentence handed down to Andrew Tsege in Ethiopia.

James Duddridge: The UK Government is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have serious concerns about the process by which Mr Andargachew Tsege was transferred from Yemen and his ongoing lack of access to a lawyer. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has raised Mr Tsege's case 21 times with his Ethiopian counterpart. I have also raised this case, most recently on 8 January. We continue to lobby for Mr Tsege to be granted access to a lawyer.

British Overseas Territories: Companies

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to require UK Overseas Territories to create and publish registers showing the beneficial owners of companies registered in those territories.

James Duddridge: Our priority for the Overseas Territories has been for them to hold accurate and current beneficial ownership information on island in central registers or the equivalent, where they do not already do so, and to allow for UK law enforcement to access that information. The agreements signed this week achieve this and represent a significant step forward in our ability to counter criminal activity and should be welcomed.As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) said in the House on 11 April, only about three countries in the world, including Britain, are implementing open accessible central registers of company beneficial ownership information. The actions taken by the Overseas Territories put them well ahead of many of our international partners.

Corruption

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps at the Anti-Corruption Summit being held in London in May 2016 to press for an international agreement on stricter rules concerning tax havens and beneficial owners.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Summit will address a range of measures to tackle corruption, including promoting transparency around beneficial ownership. Further information about the London Anti-Corruption Summit can be found on the summit web pages of the GOV.UK website.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Trade: EU Action

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the reasons are for the government policy not to support the progress of the European Commission's proposed reforms to (a) trade and defence instruments and (b) the lesser duty rule.

Anna Soubry: The UK fully supports modernisation of the European Union’s/Commission’s trade defence instruments but believes that effective trade defence measures should be proportionate, not protectionist, and set tariffs only as high as necessary to remove the injury inflicted on EU industry without being punitive, which would hurt users of products, including downstream manufacturers, and consumers.The Government’s response to the Commission’s public consultation on the modernisation of trade defence instruments (TDI), in June 2012, stated:“The strongly held UK view is that the EU’s use of the lesser duty rule is one of the elements of the TDI regime which contributes to its being recognised as one of the most progressive global trade defence systems. Furthermore, it enhances the economic coherence of European TD actions as imposing tariffs no higher than that level needed to offset the injury caused by dumping / subsidy is entirely consistent with restoring fair competition. We have fully supported the Commission’s efforts to encourage FTA partners to adopt the lesser duty rule in their regimes. It would be a retrograde step to remove its position as a central part of the EU regime (2.3.3).”

Universities: China

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which universities have opened a Confucius Institute on campus; and what guidance he has issued to those universities on relations with the Chinese government.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 11 April 2016



The Government values the productive links our universities have with China, and we welcome the increasing number of UK students and institutions benefitting from such international collaborations. Higher education institutions are autonomous and, as such, are responsible for developing their own academic and international partnerships, while ensuring that they comply with any relevant statutory duties, including the requirements of the Education Reform Act 1988.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Investment

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the quality of information and data used to inform his Department's investment prioritisation process; and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is committed to ensuring that all of its key policies and programmes are based on high quality evidence and subject to robust monitoring and evaluation. The foundation for this vision was set out in the Department’s Evaluation Strategy published in December 2014 and the first update - BIS Evaluation Plan 2016.A substantial amount of work is undertaken across the Department to better understand, and develop, the evidence underpinning investment options. For example, in preparation for Spending Review 2015, the Department thoroughly reviewed its evidence base, through Evidence Challenge Panels (ECP) and an Investment Gateway (IG) process. The ECP membership consisted of Directors of spend areas and provided senior peer review of work underway to address the key evidence gaps and to support longer term planning to develop BIS’ evidence base. The IG was set up to support prioritisation of spend and ensure investment decisions are based on robust business cases consisting of strategic, economic, financial, management and commercial assessments. The IG panel includes the chief analyst and DG finance. The ECP and IG in turn fed into the Department’s submissions to HM Treasury for the Spending Review.

Science: Infrastructure

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will conduct an assessment of UK science infrastructure to inform departmental decision-making on spending priorities.

Joseph Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32088.

Air Products

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he was made aware of the decision by Air Products to exit its energy-from-waste business.

Anna Soubry: The Government engages with Air Products in relation to their Tees Valley energy-from-waste plant at both Official and Ministerial level. My Department was first made aware of this decision on 4th April and will be working with the Local Enterprise Partnership to explore the impacts of this announcement.

Apprentices: Finance

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the fund to increase the number of degree apprenticeships that he announced on 24 March 2016 will also apply to masters-level apprenticeships.

Nick Boles: The fund to increase the number of degree apprenticeships announced on 24 March 2016 applies to developing degree apprenticeships at both level 6 (bachelor’s) and level 7 (master’s).

Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK: Redcar

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will amend the remit of the taskforce created to respond to the closure of SSI in Redcar to include the Teesside economy as a whole.

Anna Soubry: Where there are redundancies within the Tees Valley, the Government will work with local partners, including the Tees Valley Combined Authority, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the SSI Task Force to determine how support can be most effectively targeted to affected individuals. The SSI Task Force is already supporting the Tees Valley economy more broadly, for example through the £16m Support for Businesses Schemes, which the Task Force reports has created 186 jobs, safeguarded 326 jobs and committed £4.1m funding, attracting £6m in private sector match.

Arms Trade: Exports

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs attributable to the arms export industry in 2014.

Anna Soubry: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold this information.

Higher Education: Dartford

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number of young people from Dartford who went to university in the last five years.

Joseph Johnson: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on the entry rates for full-time undergraduate courses by parliamentary constituency. UCAS does not publish data on the number of entrants by parliamentary constituency, only entry rates. Latest statistics from the 2015 UCAS End of Cycle Report for the Dartford constituency are provided in the table. The entry rate is given as the proportion of 18 year olds that accepted a place during a UCAS application cycle. Table: Higher Education entry rates for 18 year olds from the Dartford Constituency2011/122012/132013/142014/152015/1628.6%23.2%29.9%27.3%32.5%

Students: Loans

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to ensure that the sale of the pre-2012 income contingent repayment student loan book will not affect the amount of debt current graduates owe.

Joseph Johnson: The Sale of Student Loans Act 2008 prevents Government from treating less favourably borrowers whose loans are sold, compared to the treatment of borrowers whose loans remain on the Government’s books.After a sale, the Government continues to finance student loans and collect repayments through HM Revenue and Customs and the Student Loans Company. Purchasers will have no direct relationship with borrowers, and no power to amend the terms of repayment.

European Regional Development Fund: Wales

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) jobs and (b) businesses that have been created in Wales through European Regional Development Fund projects since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of jobs estimated to have been created in Wales through European Regional Development Fund projects from the start of the 2007-2013 programmes to the end of February 2016 is 36,400. The number of businesses created in the same period is 11,900.

European Regional Development Fund: Scotland

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) jobs and (b) businesses that have been created in Scotland through European Regional Development Fund projects since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of jobs estimated to have been created in Scotland through European Regional Development Fund projects from the start of the 2007-2013 programmes to the end of February 2016 is 44,311. The number of businesses created in the same period is 17,543.

European Regional Development Fund: Yorkshire and the Humber

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) jobs and (b) businesses that have been created in Yorkshire and the Humber through European Regional Development Fund projects since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of jobs estimated to have been created in Yorkshire and the Humber through European Regional Development Fund projects from the start of the 2007-2013 programmes to the end of February 2016 is 20,149. The number of businesses created in the same period is 2,748.

European Regional Development Fund: North East

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) jobs and (b) businesses that have been created in the North East through European Regional Development Fund projects since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of jobs estimated to have been created in the North East through European Regional Development Fund projects from the start of the 2007-2013 programmes to the end of February 2016 is 20,602. The number of businesses created in the same period is 5,888.

European Regional Development Fund: North West

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of (a) jobs and (b) businesses that have been created in the North West through European Regional Development Fund projects since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The number of jobs estimated to have been created in the North West through European Regional Development Fund projects from the start of the 2007-2013 programmes to the end of February 2016 is 29,795. The number of businesses created in the same period is 9,582.

Higher Education

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of removing student number controls for alternative providers of degree-level courses on national levels of student debt.

Joseph Johnson: The majority of Alternative Providers remain subject to student number controls, with the exception of nine (as at 12th April 2016) alternative providers that have their own degree awarding powers. It is not possible to determine the impact on national levels of student debt – as any students recruited by these 9 providers may instead have been recruited by providers in the publicly funded sector, none of which are subject to student number controls.

Further Education

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 13258, whether an hon. Member will be informed about a post-16 area-based review on the basis that their constituency is in the area covered by the review or on the basis that a college in their constituency is included in a review.

Nick Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pubs Code Adjudicator

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise of 10 March 2016, Official Report, column 425, in what way Mr Newby has been assisting with the Pubs Code.

Anna Soubry: Mr Newby has not been involved in the drafting of and consultation process for the Pubs Code. Officials in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills met the Adjudicator after his appointment to provide him with a high level briefing on Part 4 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act and some areas of the draft Pubs Code in order to familiarise him with key aspects ahead of him taking up this important role. During the course of this briefing there was a discussion of some technical aspects of the Market Rent Only arbitration process - for example, the length of time it takes to appoint an independent expert - where the Adjudicator shared his professional insights.

Pubs Code Adjudicator

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what methodology the Pubs Code Adjudicator appointment panel employed in order to ensure the appointed Pubs Code Adjudicator had no conflicts of interest.

Anna Soubry: Mr Newby was appointed in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA) Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. As is standard practice, Mr Newby was asked during this appointments process to declare any potential conflicts of interest. The appointment panel discussed conflicts of interest with him at interview. The Panel was satisfied there were no conflicts of interest, and put this advice to ministers.

Arms Trade: Exports

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the contribution of the arms export industry to the UK economy in 2014.

Anna Soubry: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Arms Trade: Exports

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the value of arms exports from the UK was in 2014.

Anna Soubry: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Living Wage: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of the National Living Wage on the level of child poverty in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire.

Nick Boles: The Government has made no such assessment. The Government is committed to working to eliminate child poverty and improving life chances for children. This includes making work pay, in which the National Living Wage has an important part to play, and also through our wider reforms to support parents to move into work, increase their earnings, and keep more of what they earn. The National Living Wage will benefit over 1 million low paid workers this year and 2.9 million directly by 2020. The introduction of the National Living Wage will mean that a full-time worker aged 25 or over previously on the National Minimum Wage will see their annual earnings increase by £910.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Poliomyelitis

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is successful in eradicating polio by 2020.

Mr Nick Hurd: Her Majesty’s Government is fully committed to global polio eradication. The UK is the third largest donor to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and is providing £300 million for 2013 to 2019. The UK, as the largest donor to Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance, is supporting the rapid global introduction of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine, a key step in the final stages of eradication. DFID also plays a key role in sustaining global political commitment and in making sure that every penny we, or others, invest in polio is spent well. We actively participate on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Oversight Board and the Finance and Accountability Committee, ensuring a strong focus on results and delivering value for money. During the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Her Majesty’s Government re-affirmed our unwavering commitment to fighting polio encouraging others to join us in the final push towards global polio eradication.

*No heading*

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of humanitarian conditions inside the town of Daraya in Syria.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The United Nations has been unable to deliver assistance to the 4,000 people besieged by the Syrian Regime in Darayya since November 2012, despite repeated requests for permission. The UN report that humanitarian conditions there are dire, with reports of severe shortages of food, clean water, medicines, electricity and basic commodities. The United Nations stands ready to deliver assistance to Darayaa as soon as access is granted by the Syrian regime. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. We have given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to these areas and are pushing for humanitarian access to be granted to all besieged and hard to reach places in Syria through the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian taskforce and our position in the UN Security Council.

Yemen: Internally Displaced People

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the provision of medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter for internally displaced people and children in Yemen.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has more than doubled its humanitarian support over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16. We have so far helped more than 1.3 million Yemenis who have been affected by the conflict with food assistance, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter, as well as supporting refugees and migrants in Yemen. We work through International Non-Governmental Organisations and United Nations agencies to deliver this assistance, ensuring the response is targeted towards the most vulnerable. This funding includes support to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide over 750,000 Internally Displaced People and people affected by the conflict with access to a safe water supply and critical hygiene items. The UK has also provided funds to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF and Save the Children to raise awareness of child rights, to monitor and support displaced children and to provide children with food, nutritional support, water and sanitation.

Africa: Organic Farming

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that UK aid spent in Africa supports small-scale organic farmers.

Mr Nick Hurd: DFID’s Agricultural Policy Framework, published last year, sets out the approach and steps DFID will take to support agriculture. Depending on context and need, this is expected to include support to small scale organic, or smallholder, farmers in Africa. Our priorities include helping smallholder farmers to increase their productivity, and to better link them to markets to sell their produce so as to increase their incomes, improve their livelihoods and contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. For example we are providing support to the International Fund Agriculture Development’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme. This will help smallholder farmers in Africa cope with the impacts of climate change by providing extension services to farmers, improving irrigation and infrastructure, and helping farmers to increase their harvests through improved seeds and better soil and land management practices.

Developing Countries: Dengue Fever

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has provided to tackle dengue fever.

Mr Nick Hurd: The most effective way for DFID to have a sustainable impact on dengue fever and other vector-borne diseases is through our support to vector control, which is very important to protect populations from dengue and other vector borne diseases. Our partners include the Innovative Vector Control Consortium based at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which is a product development partnership that brings together partners from the public and private sectors to develop new insecticides that can be used to control insects that spread this disease.

Developing Countries: Dengue Fever

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her foreign counterparts on efforts to tackle dengue fever.

Mr Nick Hurd: Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Word Health Organisation to discuss a range of health issues including on the management of disease outbreaks. Dengue was discussed during last year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), which brings together the member states to discuss important issues. Senior officials from DFID and the Department of Health participate at the WHA. DFID's health focus is to improve the provision of basic health services for the poorest by supporting health systems strengthening, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines and equipment. Increasing coverage, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including communicable diseases.

Developing Countries: Dengue Fever

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of dengue fever on the development of developing countries.

Mr Nick Hurd: Dengue is estimated to place a heavy socio-economic burden on households, health care systems and governments, particularly during outbreaks; however, country-specific reliable estimates of burden of disease and cost data are limited.

Ethical Trading Initiative

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) received from the Government in the last three years; for what reasons that funding is provided; against what criteria the decision to fund that organisation was made; and what obligations the ETI places on its member companies with respect to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Mr Desmond Swayne: In the last three years the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) has received £1.2m in funding from DFID, through a Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA). PPA funding supports ETI to improve working conditions for poor and vulnerable people, this includes workers in top tier farms and factories, as well as those in the lower tiers of supply chains (such as women homeworkers, smallholders and migrant workers) who are harder to reach and more vulnerable to exploitation. PPA funding is not tied to specific initiatives or interventions but ETI are expected to meet objectives set out in a robust performance framework, agreed between DFID and ETI. PPA funding was based on competitive selection and open to organisations who were regarded as leaders in their field and who could deliver on DFID’s objectives. Organisations were selected following a rigorous assessment and quality assurance process. Freedom of Association and collective bargaining is a component of the ETI Base Code and therefore every ETI member commits to taking action to support this right.

Department for Education

Department for Education: Morning Lane Associates

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has paid to Morning Lane Associates (a) directly and (b) through other organisations in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14, (iii) 2014-15 and (iv) 2015-16.

Nick Gibb: The web-link below shows the total value of payments made to Morning Lane Associates in each of the requested financial years. The Department does not hold information on payments made by other organisations. Each month, the Department publishes data for transparency purposes in line with the Government’s transparency agenda. All payments over £25,000 are published. Supplier payment details can be found by searching the published data on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-and-executive-agency-spend-over-25000-2015-to-2016

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ring-fence special educational needs funding as part of her Department's new national funding formula.

Mr Sam Gyimah: We are currently consulting on arrangements for new national formulae for schools and high needs funding (funding for pupils with high cost Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)). Both funding streams, along with early years funding, make up the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which is ring-fenced so that local authorities can only spend it on specified elements of education. The DSG will continue to be ring-fenced when the national funding formulae are in place. We have also protected the high needs budget in this Parliament and the previous one. We recently added £92.5 million to the 2016-17 allocations.

Teachers: Burnley

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers there were in (a) state and religious schools, (b) academies and (c) free schools in Burnley in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, (v) 2014 and (vi) 2015.

Nick Gibb: The following table provides the head count and full-time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers in (a) Local Authority maintained schools and (b) free schools in Burnley in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, and (v) 2014. There were no academy schools open in Burnley during 2010 to 2014. 2015 data will be available in June 2016.  LA Maintained[1]Free Schools[1] Head CountFTEHead CountFTE2010919824.700.02011881801.100.02012875806.000.02013885810.0109.32014873806.52119.3Source: School Workforce Census [1] Includes faith and non-denominational schools.

Teachers: Qualifications

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 1.37 of her Department's White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, when she plans to convene leading headteachers and other experts to design the new voluntary National Professional Qualifications for leadership roles.

Nick Gibb: To develop a reformed suite of National Professional Qualifications, which better prepare new leaders for the full range of leadership roles, the Department for Education anticipates convening a group of leading experts, including school leaders, in the coming months.

Education: North of England

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 1.89 of the Budget 2016, when she expects Sir Nick Weller's report into transforming education across the Northern Powerhouse to be published.

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 1.89 of Budget 2016, how much of the £20 million a year of new funding for a Northern Powerhouse school strategy she expects will be directly received by schools in Lancashire.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence. We intend to build on the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, as identified in our recent White Paper. Decisions on allocation of funding for the 16-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s report in due course.

Free School Meals

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authority schools have been found not to have kept records of eligibility for free school meals in each of the last three years.

Mr Sam Gyimah: It is a statutory requirement for all schools to return free school meals eligibility data via the school census and the Department has a process for checking that returns are accurate.

Academies: Contracts

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools have been found to have made irregular payments to third party suppliers without the necessary contracts in each of the last three years.

Edward Timpson: The Education Funding Agency does not record information in this manner, and would only be able to gather such information at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Contracts

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authority schools have been found to have made irregular payments to third party suppliers without the necessary contracts in each of the last three years.

Edward Timpson: Local authorities are responsible for the oversight of the schools they maintain and carry out their own programmes of financial monitoring.

Extracurricular Activities

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the outcome of the public consultation into out-of-school education settings.

Edward Timpson: The Government wants children to be educated in a safe environment without exposure to hateful and extremist views that undermine British values. The call for evidence on out-of-school education settings was launched on 26 November 2015 and ran for six and a half weeks closing on 11 January 2016. Around 3,000 people completed the published response form, either online or manually. The Department for Education received a significant number of further representations to the consultation by email and post. All responses and representations are being logged, analysed and verified We will be publishing a response to the consultation in due course.

Schools: Lancashire

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 1.89 of Budget 2016, how much of the £500 million of additional core funding for schools will be allocated to schools in Lancashire.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The funding announced at the Budget has been provided to support the Department’s school reform agenda. This will allow us to spend around £500 million over the Spending Review period, in addition to the per pupil protection of the core school budget announced at the spending review, to speed up the introduction of a fair national funding formula. Our current consultation on a National Funding Formula for schools outlines the principles of the funding system and the funding factors that we believe should define the national funding formula for schools. This consultation closes on 17 April, and having considered the responses to this consultation, later this year we will launch a second consultation. This second stage consultation will detail our proposals for weighting each factor, the transitional arrangements and illustrate the distribution of funding for schools and local authorities that that implies, including the allocation of this funding. Until then, I am unable to comment on how additional funding will be allocated to schools in Lancashire. A link to the consultation can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/schools-national-funding-formula.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Employment Agencies

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on agency workers to cover clerical agency staff in each month since May 2015; and which companies provided those services.

Mike Penning: The information requested is published in the department’s annual accounts. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217243/moj-annual-report-accounts-2010-11.pdfhttp://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/MoJ/2012/moj-annual-report-accounts-2011-12.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208728/moj-annual-report-2012-13.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323308/moj-annual-report-2013-14.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434016/moj-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-15.pdf

Sentencing: Foreign Nationals

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders of each nationality are serving custodial sentences of (a) less than six months, (b) six months to one year, (c) one year to two years, (d) two years to three years, (e) three years to four years, (f) four years to five years, (g) five years to 10 years and (h) more than 10 years.

Andrew Selous: Information on Foreign national offenders is regularly published on gov.uk website on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015 The specific information requested can be found in the attached annex.



Sentenced Foreign Nationals
(Excel SpreadSheet, 63.5 KB)

Offenders: Deportation

William Wragg: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on steps to remove foreign national offenders from UK prisons to their home countries.

Andrew Selous: The Secretary of State for Justice and the Home Secretary have regular bilateral meetings where they discuss progress on removal of FNOs. As announced in the Prime Minister’s speech on 8 February, MoJ officials have also been working closely with the Home Office to introduce a legal requirement for defendants appearing in court to provide their name, date of birth and nationality. This will enable earlier identification of foreign national offenders and help with the removals process.

Knives: Advertising

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of unlawful marketing of knives in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: Knife crime has no place on our streets and the government continues to work with the police and partners, including retailers, to ensure that we reduce violence and knife crime. There are strict laws on sales of knives and on how knives can be marketed, which are enforced by the police and Trading Standards. Anyone who markets a knife in a way that indicates or suggests that is suitable for combat or is likely to encourage violent behaviour faces a prison sentence of up to four years. There were no convictions for the offence of unlawful marketing of knives, in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2014 (the latest available), on a principal offence basis.

Prisoners: Donors

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether prisons record whether inmates are registered as organ donors; and what protocols are in place for donation of organs after a death in custody.

Andrew Selous: The decision to be an organ donor is for prisoners to discuss with their next of kin and to decide whether they wish to add their name to the National Organ Donor Register. Organ donation by prisoners who are transferred to hospital prior to death may be considered in certain clinical circumstances and providing that it does not affect any coroner investigation.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of claim decisions for Scottish claimants of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments were upheld at appeal in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) is administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service. The Tribunal hears appeals against decisions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on a range of benefits including employment and support allowance (ESA) and personal independence payment (PIP). The following table provides information on the number and proportion of ESA and PIP appeals in Scotland where the decision of the DWP was upheld for the four quarters to December 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available).The number and proportion of Employment Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payment appeals upheld in Scotland  Quarter1 ESA2 PIP3 Number of Decisions UpheldPercentage of Decisions Upheld  Number of Decisions UpheldPercentage of Decisions UpheldJanuary –March 201569343%37152%April – June 201575440%47250%July –September 201561742%77245%October – December 201555144%79644%Notes1 Data include Employment and Support Allowance rolled out from October 2008 and Employment and Support Allowance (Incapacity Benefit Reassessment) rolled out from April 2011. 2 Data include PIP (New Claims) and PIP (DLA Reassessed). PIP started to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 to 64 from 8 April 2013.3 Decision Upheld numbers of cases where the 1st tier decision was upheld. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available

Prime Minister

Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories

Mike Kane: To ask the Prime Minister, which representatives of the UK's Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories the Prime Minister has met since August 2013.

Mr David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr Gwynne) on 14 January 2016, UIN 21230.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Rugby: World Cup

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to paragraph 2.256 of Budget 2016, when he plans to announce further details of the Government's support for a bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.

David Evennett: My officials are holding regular discussions with the Rugby Football League (RFL) and UK Sport about establishing the support the RFL requires for a successful bid. The government will make a further announcement ahead of the bid deadline in June.

Broadband: Hatton

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of residential addresses in the parish of Hatton are currently within reach of superfast broadband.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Department does not hold parish level data. However, current estimates suggest that almost 85% of premises in the Warrington South constituency are subject to commercial rollout, and a further 9% of premises (4,615) now have coverage as a result of this Government's Superfast Broadband programme. Based on DCMS modelled estimates and current delivery plans, 97.7% of premises in the Warrington South constituency will have access to superfast broadband by December 2017. Early gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, could help extend coverage further. In addition, the Government's intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should be set at 10 Mbps.

Broadband: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, by what date he estimates there will be universal access to high-speed broadband services in Easington constituency.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Current estimates suggest that almost 90% of premises in the Easington constituency are subject to commercial rollout, and a further 6% of premises (2,410) now have coverage as a result of the Government's Superfast Broadband programme. Based on DCMS modelled estimates and current delivery plans, 97.2% of premises in the Easington constituency will have access to superfast broadband by December 2017. Early gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, could help extend coverage further. In addition, the Government's intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should be set at 10 Mbps.

Media: Disability

Richard  Arkless: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with television channel and radio station providers on inclusion and the representation of disability in mainstream media.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The government is encouraging the industry to be proactive in increasing diversity on and off screen - including in the representation of disabled people. I have hosted a number of roundtables that have addressed this issue, including a conference in January, which raised the wider issue of lack of representation of disabled people in the creative industries.

Music: Disability

Richard  Arkless: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage music venues to improve ticket and seating arrangements for disabled people.

Mr Edward Vaizey: We believe that everyone should have access to arts and culture - having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. Our recently published Culture White Paper makes a specific commitment to work with the cultural sector to improve physical access to venues. We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists, and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. My ministerial colleague Ed Vaizey also held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people. Additionally, provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public (for example music venues), to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” to non-disabled people.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medical assessors and people considering appeals have sufficient knowledge of muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

Justin Tomlinson: The assessment for Personal Independence Payment is carried out by registered health professionals who have specialist training in assessing the impact of disability and health conditions on an individual’s functional ability, including conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions. All health professionals receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions, and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions, affect their ability to perform day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment they routinely refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar. The Department’s Decision Makers and Appeal Writers receive training in health conditions to assess each case individually using the evidence provided by the claimant and the Health Professional, and can call on additional support from a Health Professional as necessary. In all Personal Independence Payment assessments consideration is given to whether claimants can complete activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period. We have also worked closely with medical experts and charities to make significant improvements to the Work Capability Assessment, including strengthening the training programme to put more emphasis on making sure that assessors do not just focus on how someone manages on a 'good day' but also consider their 'bad days' if they have a health issue that fluctuates.

Personal Independence Payment

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department make available to people whose mandatory reconsideration and appeal takes longer than seven weeks to resolve.

Priti Patel: Claimants who are found fit for work through the Work Capability Assessment and wish to appeal may be entitled to claim either Universal Credit, Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance during the reconsideration period. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches work with all such claimants to tailor a package of support commensurate with their individual needs.

Personal Independence Payment

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to amend the aids and appliances descriptors, or the points awarded to them, for personal independence payments assessments.

Justin Tomlinson: As confirmed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 21 March, the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not be going ahead.We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on PIP and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.

Personal Independence Payment

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to introduce lifetime awards for people assessed as requiring the upper personal independence payment allowance mobility component who have been diagnosed with muscle degenerative diseases or conditions.

Justin Tomlinson: Personal Independence Payment is specifically designed to ensure that the benefit is awarded to those with the greatest need and the award review process is integral to ensuring this happens. Under Disability Living Allowance over 70% of all claims had no review built-in, meaning that claimants could have been receiving too much or too little in benefit. We take a personalised approach to setting the length of awards, varying the frequency and format of awards and reviews depending on the individual’s needs and the likelihood of their health condition or impairment changing. Where the claimant has high levels of functional impairment which are only likely to increase or not improve, it is likely that the claimant will receive an enhanced rate of benefit and a longer term award. We recognise that it is important to ensure that the review process is applied sensitively and appropriately. As such, it is likely that the awards of such claimants would also go through a less intensive review process which may not, if all the necessary information is held, include a face-to-face assessment.

Members: Correspondence

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days it took his Department to answer hon. Members' correspondence on average in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.

Justin Tomlinson: The Cabinet Office publishes information on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers annually by way of a written statement. The information for the years that is available, 2013 and 2014, are in the Official Record (13 May 2014: Column 17WS and 3 Jun 2015: Column 15WS, respectively).

Housing Benefit

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his oral contribution of 21 March 2016, Official Report, column 1268, on welfare, whether he plans to implement his Department's proposal to cap housing benefit paid to social tenants at the level of local housing allowance.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government intends to implement policies that have already been announced. This includes the proposal to cap social sector Housing benefit at the level of the local Housing Allowance.

Personal Independence Payment

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who had their entitlement to the personal independent payment enhanced mobility rate removed and then reinstated on appeal were required to return a mobility vehicle or aid before that reinstatement in 2014-15.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department does not routinely collect information on the numbers of people who have had to return a Motability vehicle nor on whether they were successful on appeal. Motability is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the administration of the Motability scheme, including collating its own management information. Whilst the Department meets regularly with Motability to discuss scheme performance, questions relating to the details of the scheme’s operation should be directed to Motability itself.

Jobseeker's Allowance: EU Nationals

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many nationals from other EU member states have been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for (a) less than one month, (b) more than one month, (c) between one and three months, (d) between three and six months, (e) between six and 12 months and (f) more than 12 months.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of EU migrants who will be eligible to receive benefits in each of the next five years and (b) cost of paying those benefits to the public purse.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The information requested is not available.

Jobseeker's Allowance: EU Nationals

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many nationals from other EU member states have received jobseeker's allowance in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost of such expenditure was to the public purse.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Published National Statistics estimates of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants by nationality at the point of registration in February of each year, between 2010 and 2015 inclusive, are published at the following URL under the heading ‘Job Seeker’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/nationality-at-point-of-nino-registration-of-dwp-working-age-benefit-recipients-data-to-feb-2015 Consistent information over a 10 year period 2003 – 2013 was published as a response to a Freedom of Information query at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-uk-nationals-nino-registrations-feb-03-to-feb-13 Information on Jobseeker’s Allowance expenditure, in 2013/14, on claims where the main claimant was recorded with a non-UK European Economic Activity country of origin at the point of National Insurance registration, was published in a February 2016 ad hoc statistics report at the following URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502129/benefit-expenditure-eea-nationals-ad-hoc-stats.pdf. Information for other periods is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) average and (b) maximum time taken for contractors to return assessments to his Department was for Scottish claimants of (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) personal independence payments in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson: The information you have requested on the average and maximum time taken for the contractor in Scotland to return ESA assessments to the Department is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.PIP average actual clearance times for Scotland, measured from the point of referral to the assessment providers to a decision being made on the claim by the DWP, is available in published data at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-january-2016. Information on maximum time is not available in the published statistics and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of women who are entitled to a state pension based on married women's reduced rate national insurance contributions.

Justin Tomlinson: The information is not available. Married women’s reduced-rate National Insurance contributions do not count for the purposes of entitlement to state pension. Instead, women who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and who had paid reduced-rate National Insurance contributions may be entitled to a state pension based on the National Insurance contributions of their spouse.

Employment and Support Allowance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2016 to Question 31790, what categories of information his Department holds on people that apply for employment and support allowance.

Priti Patel: No information other than overall volumes of claims and appeals are held centrally on applicants to Employment and Support Allowance. However the information we have in respect of the number of people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance by main disabling condition is published and can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp

Employment Schemes: Mental Illness

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23980, on employment plans: mental illness, whether he plans to introduce new measures of support for people with mental health problems before the end of the three year period of voluntary trials.

Justin Tomlinson: The 2015 Spending Review announced at least £130 million a year in steady state funding on the new Work and Health Programme, which we plan to launch in 2017. With this new programme we plan to restructure our current provision to focus on providing the best possible support for claimants with health conditions or disabilities, including those with mental health conditions. In addition, the Prime Minister has already announced plans to significantly improve the support that helps people with mental ill health retain or regain employment: Over £300 million will be provided to double access to talking therapies for people suffering from conditions like anxiety or depression. £50 million will be spent to double the reach of Individual Placement and Support Programmes, which find work for people with mental illness. over £50 million is being invested to more than double the number of IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) employment advisors, so that they are linked in to every talking therapy service in the country. 29,000 more people with mental health conditions will be helped to find or stay in work thanks to increased access to these therapies.

*No heading*

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to change (a) the points awarded to individual descriptors under the personal independent payments (PIP) and (b) other elements of the PIP assessment process system.

Justin Tomlinson: As confirmed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 21 March, the proposed changes to PIP will not be going ahead. We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.

*No heading*

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of assessment reports conducted by contractors for Scottish claimants of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payments did not meet the contractual standard required in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

Priti Patel: The information you have requested Is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether transitional protection where entitlement is lower will begin as soon as tax credit recipients start migrating to universal credit.

Priti Patel: No-one already on existing benefits or Tax Credits whose circumstances remain the same will lose out in cash terms as a direct result of being moved on to Universal Credit. These claimants will be given transitional protection to avoid cash loss at the point of change.

Social Security Benefits: Expenditure

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the total expenditure on disability, incapacity, industrial injuries and carer's benefits in each year from 2015 to 2020 in real terms.

Justin Tomlinson: Benefit expenditure information is available in our Benefit Expenditure tables which can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2016 In the ‘Outturn and forecast: March Budget 2016’ tables, expenditure information can be found in Table 1b which has real terms expenditure based upon 2015/16 prices.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Charities

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has initiated with military charities on minimising duplication of effort and gaps in provision.

Mark Lancaster: The Service Charities Partnership Board (SCPB) is the most senior MOD Forum with charities and is attended by the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO), The Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association.Our structured engagement serves to help identify gaps in current provision and increase coherence. The SCPB meets quarterly chaired by the Chief of Defence People with an annual Ministerial-led meeting attended by a broader spectrum of Armed Forces charities. Armed Forces charities are also represented at the MOD Welfare Conference, Bi-annual Defence Recovery Board, and the Armed Forces Covenant Reference Group.The MOD continues to pursue a number of initiatives to increase coherence and minimising duplication of effort amongst the many Service Charities, including producing clear strategies in areas such as Mental Health; Wellbeing; and a Families Strategy, which will help provide a clear and better direction to co-ordinate work in these areas as well as helping to identify gaps in the current provision.

Armed Forces Covenant

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what standing procedures his Department has for engaging other departments and the devolved administrations in promoting delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant.

Mark Lancaster: A feature of the Armed Forces Covenant is the Covenant Reference Group (CRG) which is chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and includes representatives from all of the main Government Departments and Devolved Administrations. The CRG meets regularly to guide and direct work on the Armed Forces Covenant. The CRG also includes the three Service Family Federations, COBSEO (the Confederation of Service Charities) and other charities. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) also holds regular meetings with Devolved Administrations specifically to take forward Covenant work. The MOD also works closely with other Government Departments through the CRG Ministerial Sub-committee to meet their commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant and in much of their day to day work.

Armed Forces

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many local authorities in each of the nations and regions of the UK have a multi-agency service dedicated to supporting members of the armed forces and former members of the armed forces and their families.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence does not hold this information.

NATO

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on delivering reforms agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014.

Mr Julian Brazier: Good progress is being made towards delivery of the commitments made at the Wales Summit. The UK is taking a leading role in the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan with delivery of a capable and effective UK-led Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land) Brigade in 2017 well on track. The Defence Investment Pledge to spend 2% of GDP on Defence, and 20% of that on equipment, has been met by the UK and some others. Enhanced partnership cooperation across many of NATO's partnership frameworks and the Defence Capacity Building Initiative is steadily progressing. These commitments will be reviewed at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July, as part of NATO's move to being "adaptable by design".

Armed Forces

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25543, whether the definition of UK troops includes members of the (a) Joint Cyber Unit (Reserve), (b) 13 Squadron of the Royal Air Force and (c) 39 Squadron of the Royal Air Force.

Penny Mordaunt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 32570 on 11 April 2016.



Electronic Warfare
(Word Document, 15.39 KB)

Navy: Far East

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what facilities are currently available to the Royal Navy in the Far East.

Penny Mordaunt: When deploying to the Far East Royal Naval vessels would normally have access to the port facility of the nation that they visit during the deployment.In addition, the United Kingdom operates a jetty and fuel depot at Sembawang in Singapore as part of our commitment to the Five Powers Defence Arrangements.

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether during his meeting with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh on 28 March 2016 he (a) discussed human rights in that country (b) made representations about Ali a Nimr, Dawood al Mahroon and Abdullah al Zaher.

Michael Fallon: During my visit I had discussions with senior Saudi leadership on a range of defence and security issues, including the importance of International Humanitarian Law. The government of Saudi Arabia is well aware of our views on human rights and our opposition to the death penalty. Our expectation remains that these three individuals will not be executed.

Maritime Patrol Aircraft

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the purchase and subsequent support contracts for the P-8A aircraft will come under the single source contract regulations.

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the value of (a) UK and (b) foreign munitions and sonobuoys purchased for the UK's P-8A aircraft over the life of that aircraft by (i) year, (ii) country of manufacture and (iii) name.

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timescale is for procurement of a new Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 December 2015 to Question 19776 to the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle). The Ministry of Defence has not yet made a final decision on the method for contracting for delivery of the P8-A Poseiden aircraft to the UK. Therefore the information requested is yet to be determined. 



Maritime Patrol Aircraft
(Word Document, 14.32 KB)

Nimrod Aircraft

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) flying hours and (b) air shows were flown by the Nimrod MRA4 aircraft prior to their decommissioning.

Mr Philip Dunne: As the Nimrod MRA4 aircraft was never in RAF service, the Ministry of Defence does not hold information regarding the aircraft's flying hours or appearance at air shows when operated by BAE Systems.

Maritime Patrol Aircraft

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the (a) feasibility and (b) potential cost of hiring P3-Orion aircraft before the P-8As come into service.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has no plans to lease any P-3 Orion aircraft prior to the introduction to service of the P-8A.

NATO

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made in NATO Transformation.

Mr Julian Brazier: Good progress is being made since Wales on transforming NATO's ability to respond to the range of challenges the Alliance faces. NATO's new political guidance gives the Alliance the flexibility to plan for and adapt to the threats that it may face, including from Cyber and Hybrid attacks. The Readiness Action Plan, agreed at the Wales Summit, established the NATO enhanced Response Force, which will enable NATO to respond quickly, efficiently and effectively to the evolving and emerging threats. In support of this, the UK will lead a multinational force that includes up to 3,000 UK personnel as Framework Nation for NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2017.

Military Alliances

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with which countries the UK has signed a defence (a) treaty, (b) formal agreement, (c) Memorandum of Understanding and (d) Letter of Intent in each year since 2011.

Mr Julian Brazier: The Ministry of Defence has signed several hundred Treaties, Agreements, Memoranda of Understandings and Letters of Intent with foreign governments since 2011. These agreements are a key part of our defence engagement work and a list of the countries that are party to these agreements will be deposited in the Library of the House shortly.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Non-domestic Rates: Academies

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the potential effect on business rate revenue of converting all schools to academies.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Rented Housing: EU Nationals

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of nationals from other EU member states who are on social housing waiting lists.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Right to Buy Scheme

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) proposed future Right to Buy replacement houses in the development and planning stage and (b) properties expected to be sold under the Right to Buy scheme in each of the next three years.

Brandon Lewis: Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an agreement with the housing association sector to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million tenants. Under the terms of the agreement housing associations will deliver an additional home through new supply nationally for every home sold – increasing overall housing supply.Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, delivering more than a one for one replacement on the 3054 sales following the first year of reinvigoration.

Right to Buy Scheme

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that a home is built to replace every house sold through the Right to Buy scheme.

Brandon Lewis: Over 2 million tenants in England have already realised their aspiration of owning their own home, and the voluntary agreement between the Government and the housing association sector will extend this opportunity to a further 1.3 million families the chance to purchase their home at Right to Buy level discounts – unlike Scottish residents who will not be able to benefit at all thanks to the Scottish government’s decision to put an end to Right to Buy as of August this year. Under the terms of the agreement for every home sold housing associations will deliver an additional home nationally, through new supply.Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By March 2013 after the first year of reinvigoration there had been 3,054 additional sales and by December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, meaning councils are delivering within this 3 year profile.

Floods: Yorkshire and the Humber

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what final estimate of damage in the Yorkshire and Humber region caused by recent flooding his Department has provided to the EU Commission.

James Wharton: The UK Government submitted an initial application to the European Union Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February which included a provisional estimate of the costs of direct damage incurred by storms Desmond and Eva. We are in the process of refining our cost estimations and figures, and will update Parliament once the application is finalised.

Help to Buy Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been purchased in (a) England, (b) the East Midlands and (c) Ashfield constituency through the Help to Buy Scheme in each year since that scheme was introduced.

Brandon Lewis: Since the launch of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan, Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee and Help to Buy: NewBuy schemes, the total number of homes sold under all schemes total 138,997 in England, of which 15,684 are in the East Midlands.Figures for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan and Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee show 494 homes sold in the Ashfield constituency. Figures for the total number of homes sold under the Help to Buy: NewBuy schemes are not published at this level.

Antisemitism

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2016 to Question 31430, on Anti-Semitism, which legal changes form part of the Government's position on boycott, divestment and sanctions.

Mr Marcus Jones: Following the announcement on 3 October, the Department issued a public consultation on 25 November on changes to the regulatory framework for investments made under the local government pension scheme. The consultation proposed that guidance would be issued on how pension fund authorities should take non-financial considerations into account when making investment decisions.The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Wales Office

Budget March 2016: Wales

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on Wales of measures announced in the Budget 2016.

Alun Cairns: Last month’s Budget demonstrated the scale of this Government’s ambition for Wales, delivering a historic City Deal for Cardiff and a commitment to Swansea Bay, cutting tax for 1.4 million Welsh men and women, as well as opening the door for a growth deal for North Wales.

Children's Commissioner for Wales

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Government on strengthening and extending the remit of the Children's Commissioner for Wales.

Guto Bebb: The Children’s Commissioner for Wales plays an essential role as part of wider efforts to protect children. I have already spoken to the Commissioner by phone and look forward to further engagement in the future to discuss any concerns she may have about the extent of her remit.

Welsh Government: Accountability

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the financial accountability of government in Wales.

Guto Bebb: In order to become truly accountable to the people of Wales it is vital that the Welsh Government takes more responsibility for raising, through taxation, the money that it spends. We will, as part of the Wales Bill, remove the requirement for a referendum before the devolution of powers to vary the rates of income tax in Wales.

Universal Credit: Wales

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to universal credit on families in Wales.

Guto Bebb: Universal Credit is transforming the lives of the most disadvantaged children and families in this country.This Government recognises that work is the best route out of poverty.Our welfare reforms have resulted in record numbers of Welsh people going out to work – strengthening families through financial security and improving the life chances of children throughout Wales.

Fuels: Excise Duties

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what representations he has received from the Welsh Government on the fuel duty rebate scheme.

Guto Bebb: I have received no recent representations.All areas that met the strict criteria around pump price, population density and the cost of fuel transportation were included in the extension to the rural fuel rebate scheme introduced in April 2015.There are currently no plans to extend the scheme beyond the qualifying areas.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Livestock: Animal Welfare

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consult veterinary and animal welfare experts on the planned update of farm animal welfare codes; and if she will publish in draft those updated codes for consultation.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the updated farm animal welfare codes; how (a) much funding and (b) many staff her Department will provide for the update of those codes; and what research her Department plans to undertake related to the update of those codes.

George Eustice: We have the highest standards of animal welfare in the world, and we will be retaining the framework that upholds them. Defra will continue to work with industry to ensure farmers have the guidance they need to help them comply with legislation, and we will consult as and when updates are needed.

Business: Climate Change

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many businesses in (a) Cumbria, (b) Lancashire and (c) Yorkshire have accessed the Environment Agency's Climate Ready Support Service in each year since it was set up.

Rory Stewart: The Environment Agency does not have figures for the number of businesses accessing the Climate Ready Support Service. The Service has, however, enabled hundreds of organisations across England to understand their climate risk and take action to reduce it through a wide range of different initiatives. For example, the Climate Ready Business Resilience Health Check tool has been accessed online by 8000 businesses.

River Lea: Pollution

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to respond to the oil spill on the River Lea near Tottenham Lock.

Rory Stewart: The Environment Agency attended the site on the morning of 5 April and worked with Thames Water Utilities (TWU) Ltd to trace the source, identifying it as a ruptured diesel oil tank. The Environment Agency is working alongside contractors and the Canal and River Trust (CRT) to clear up the oil. Absorbent booms are in place to contain the spread of the oil. Any residual patches of oil not trapped by the booms are being mopped up by absorbent pads. The Environment Agency attended the site on 11 April and will continue to oversee the clean-up operation. The Environment Agency is continuing investigations with a view to possible enforcement action.

*No heading*

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's news story, £700 million boost for flood defences brings £150 million more for Yorkshire and Cumbria, published on 17 March 2016, how much funding the Government plans to allocate to flood defences in (a) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency and (b) Kendal in each of the next five years.

Rory Stewart: In the Budget, the Government recently announced that it will invest up to £24 million in flood defences in the Kendal area in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency, subject to the Environment Agency concluding a review of its need. This is in addition to other schemes within the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency, such as £450,000 being spent on the Arnside embankment. The Environment Agency will shortly publish their initial assessments.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has conducted or commissioned on the use of gas as a potential method for culling badgers; how many badgers were used in that research; what the results of that research were; and what the total cost was of that research.

George Eustice: Bovine TB is the greatest animal health threat to the UK. Based on current expenditure it will cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next decade if we do not take rigorous action now. Management of rural badger populations in areas with high incidence of bovine TB in cattle is part of the Government’s 25-year strategy to eradicate bovine TB in England. A research study commissioned by Defra is assessing alternative control methods, including the use of gas in a sett environment. No badgers or active setts have been used in this research. It is Defra’s intention to publish a final report once the research has concluded. Project costs to March 2016 are £310,252.

HM Treasury

Income Tax: Solihull

Julian Knight: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people in Solihull who will pay less income tax as a result of the increase in the personal allowance announced in Budget 2016.

Mr David Gauke: The £300 increase in the personal allowance announced at Budget 16 is estimated to have reduced income tax for 28.9 million income tax payers in 2017-18. Of these individuals, 2.4 million live in the West Midlands region, which includes the Parliamentary Constituency of Solihull. These estimates are based on the 2013-14 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2017-18 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2016 economic and fiscal outlook. HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.

Mortgages

James Cartlidge: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on an (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

Harriett Baldwin: HM Treasury has not made any estimates of the proportion of new buy-to-let mortgage loans over the next five years which will be advanced on a (a) capital repayment and (b) interest-only basis.

Students: Loans

Hannah Bardell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the Government's change to the discount rate applied to student loans.

Hannah Bardell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the change to the discount rate applied to student loans applies to all parts of the UK.

Greg Hands: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) applies HM Treasury’s long term discount rate to calculate the carrying value of English student loans shown in the BIS financial statements. Loans issued by devolved administrations are shown in their respective financial statements. The accounting treatment and discount rates applied are a matter for them. HM Treasury is always open to discussion with the devolved administrations about such matters.

Inheritance Tax: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire who will pay less inheritance tax as a result of the proposed changes to inheritance tax thresholds planned to be introduced from 2017.

Mr David Gauke: The Government has made no specific estimates of the number of people who will pay less Inheritance Tax in either Ashfield constituency or Nottinghamshire as a result of the reforms to Inheritance Tax that will be introduced from April 2017.

Inheritance Tax: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in Ashfield constituency paid inheritance tax in the last three years.

Mr David Gauke: Statistics on the number of estates liable to Inheritance Tax, broken down by Westminster Parliamentary Constituency, are published annually. The most recent update covered deaths in 2012-13 and can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-statistics-table-1212-provisional-numbers-of-taxpaying-estates-passing-on-death-in-2012-to-2013. A previous update covering 2011-12 deaths can be found online at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150131092906/https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-provisional-numbers-of-taxpaying-estates-passing-on-death-in-2010-to-2011-by-regions-and-parliamentary-constituencies, and an earlier update covering 2010-11 deaths can be found online at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140321030529/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-provisional-numbers-of-taxpaying-estates-passing-on-death-in-2010-to-2011-by-regions-and-parliamentary-constituencies.

Mortgages

James Cartlidge: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prudential Regulation Authority's Draft Supervisory Statement on Buy-to-Let Underwriting Standards, published in March 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the 20 per cent growth in buy-to-let mortgage lending over the next three years on home ownership.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government is committed to supporting homeowners. One part of this commitment is ensuring that there is a level playing field between homeowners and landlords. In the 2015 Autumn Statement, we announced a 3 percentage point increase in the rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax applying to the purchase of additional residential properties, such as second homes and buy-to-let properties; and in the Summer Budget of 2015, we acted to restrict, to the basic rate of income tax, the tax relief on finance costs received by landlords of residential property. The Financial Policy Committee recently stated that the combination of forthcoming changes to mortgage interest tax relief and the implementation of the PRA Supervisory Statement will probably dampen growth of buy-to-let mortgage lending relative to lenders’ plans.

Mesothelioma

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consultation took place with mesothelioma charities and other organisations before the announcement of the establishment of the National Mesothelioma Centre in Budget 2016.

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.15 of Budget 2016, what criteria were or will be applied in the selection of organisations to participate in the National Mesothelioma Centre.

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.15 of Budget 2016, (a) to which organisations and (b) when the £5 million allocated to a National Mesothelioma Centre will be paid.

Greg Hands: The National Mesothelioma Centre will be a collaboration between four leading institutions who have a major interest in the treatment of mesothelioma: National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College; Royal Brompton Hospital; Institute of Cancer Research (ICR); and Royal Marsden Hospital. This collaboration will form the hub of the Centre which will engage with all other hospitals in the UK to which mesotheliomas are referred and treated.Professor Sir Anthony Newton Taylor, Head of Research & Development at the National Heart & Lung Institute, who made the application for support from LIBOR fines, is working closely with the British Lung Foundation and other charities in order to ensure that experts from across the lung and cancer research community are able to contribute to this important enterprise.The £5 million grant, which is intended as seed funding, has been profiled over 4 years and will be paid to the National Mesothelioma Centre, once established. The funding will be subjected to standard Grant Terms and Conditions, including a feedback and reporting mechanism, and audit.

Children: Day Care

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to produce an online tool to allow parents to compare the benefits of tax-free childcare with other childcare support schemes.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of parents eligible for tax-free childcare who do not have access to the internet; and what plans he has to ensure all such families are not excluded from access to tax-free childcare due to lack of access to the internet.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of parents who will not be eligible for tax-free childcare as a result of the decision to (a) lower the upper income limit per parent from £150,000 to £100,000 and (b) increase the minimum income level per parent from the equivalent of eight hours to 16 hours at the national living wage.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to raise awareness of tax-free childcare with parents before that scheme is launched in early 2017.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.77 of Budget 2016, whether eligible parents will be able to open tax-free childcare accounts prior to the launch of that scheme in early 2017.

Damian Hinds: The Government will publicise the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme in good time ahead of its introduction through a range of digital and print channels. HMRC will also work with the childcare industry and representative groups who interact regularly with parents to raise awareness of the scheme. HM Revenue and Customs is developing an online childcare calculator to help parents understand their eligibility for government childcare support. From early 2017, parents of the youngest children will be able to enter the scheme first, with all eligible parents brought in by the end of 2017. Parents will not be able to open childcare accounts prior to the launch of the scheme. TFC will be straightforward and quick to apply online for the vast majority of parents. We estimate that up to 9% of the families eligible for the scheme of that population may have issues with either accessing or using the internet. HM Revenue and Customs will ensure that assistance is provided, usually by telephone, so these families do not miss out on the support available. Tax-Free Childcare is part of the wider government childcare offer which will be worth over £6Bn per annum and together provide generous support to families on all levels of income.

Treasury: Performance Related Pay

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many women in delegated pay grades in his Department were awarded non-consolidated performance related pay in 2014-15; and what the total cost was of that pay.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many men in delegated pay grades in his Department were awarded non-consolidated performance related pay in 2014-15; and what the total cost was of that pay.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many male senior civil servants in his Department were awarded non-consolidated performance related pay in 2014-15; and what the total cost was of that pay.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many female senior civil servants in his Department were awarded non-consolidated performance related pay in 2014-15; and what the total cost was of that pay.

Harriett Baldwin: The requested information is as follows:  Males awarded non-consolidated performance payments 2014-15Female awarded non-consolidated performance payments 2014-15 No. of IndividualsCostNo. of IndividualsCostDelegated323£211,426346£233,036SCS14£177,25012£113,350

Research

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to promote research and development in the UK.

Greg Hands: At the Spending Review 2015 we protected the current £4.7 billion science resource funding in real terms for the rest of the Parliament and re-affirmed our long term science capital commitment of £6.9 billion between 2015-2021. The government also continues to support business research and development investment through R&D tax credits. In 2013-14, R&D tax credits provided £1.75bn of relief to over 18,000 companies, supporting around £14.3bn of innovative investment.

Economic Growth: Lancashire

Julie Cooper: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many projects in Lancashire have been funded directly under the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Greg Hands: The Northern Powerhouse is creating a single Northern economy that is greater than the sum of its parts. Lancashire will benefit from pan-Northern projects including the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy, Shale Wealth Fund, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and membership of Transport for the North. Lancashire will directly benefit from investments including a £251.11m growth deal, two Enterprise Zones, a National College for Onshore Oil and Gas at Blackpool, £56,000 for the refurbishment of the Muni theatre in Pendle and numerous transport schemes. Government does not hold information on the specific number of projects in Lancashire.

Help to Buy Scheme

Owen Smith: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the number of people who will (a) be eligible for and (b) participate in the Help to Save scheme in each year up to 2020.

Harriett Baldwin: Approximately 3.5 million people are expected to be eligible to open a Help to Save account in each year from the date the scheme is launched, which will be no later than April 2018. The costing is based on the expectation that around half a million people will open a Help to Save account in the first two years that accounts are available. Further information on the costing of this measure can be found on page 62 of the published Budget 2016 Policy Costings document, available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

Fracking: Lancashire

Julie Cooper: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.249 of the Budget 2016, when and how the Government plans to consult on the priorities and delivery models of the Shale Wealth Fund; and how much of that fund he expects to be allocated to (a) Lancashire and (b) Burnley.

Damian Hinds: The Government will be consulting on the priorities and delivery models for the Shale Wealth Fund later this year. Details on how the government plans to consult on the Shale Wealth Fund will be announced in due course. The Shale Wealth Fund is projected to deliver up to £1 billion of investment in the North and other shale producing areas over the next 25 years. This will provide additional funds over and above industry schemes and other sources of government funding. Further detail on how these funds will be allocated will be addressed when the government consults on the priorities and delivery models of the Shale Wealth Fund.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Biofuels

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department holds data on the amount of heat a tonne of biomass gives off when burned compared to a tonne of coal; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department annually publishes the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES). Appendix A of DUKES contains data on the calorific value of fuels: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447648/ DUKES_2015_Annex_A.pdf. The gross calorific value of dry biomass fuels, (the DUKES values have been corrected for moisture content), vary between 10 gigajoules per tonne (GJ/t) for poultry litter and 24 GJ/t for meat and bone meal. A typical dry wood based fuel has an energy content close to 19 GJ/t. Treatments such as torrefaction or charcoal production increase the energy density of biomass derived materials. However these manufactured biomass fuels are not commonly used for heating in the UK. A tonne of coal can also vary in heat content, depending on the rank of the coal, but lies between 24 GJ/t for bituminous coal as used in the pulp, paper and printing industries and 34 GJ/t of fuel for anthracite used in households. Typical bituminous house coal has a gross heat content of 30 GJ/t. These values represent the maximum heat available from a fuel in a laboratory test. The useful heat provided by combustion of that fuel to the business or home will depend on the efficiency of the combustor in which it is burnt and the design of the energy distribution system. The combustor efficiency can range from an open fire which may provide 20% of the energy in the fuel as useful heat, to modern condensing wood pellet boilers with gross efficiencies around 90%.

Energy: Waste

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support has been provided by the Government for the growth of the energy-from-waste industry.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department for Energy and Climate Change has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Electricity: Storage

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to address market barriers to investment in large-scale and distributed electricity storage technologies.

Andrea Leadsom: A key objective of our £20m energy storage innovation programme is to strengthen investor confidence in energy storage at all scales. Overall, more than £80m of public sector controlled support has been committed to energy storage research, development and demonstration activities since 2012. This R&D activity has helped to raise the profile of storage and to demonstrate its capabilities to potential investors. In addition, my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer allocated at least £50m innovation funding to smart technologies, including storage, in the recent Budget. The National Infrastructure Commission published a report, Smart Power, earlier in March. This included a recommendation to review the regulatory and legal status of storage and remove outdated barriers. The Department will implement this recommendation in full. We intend to publish a call for evidence on a smart systems route map, including storage, shortly.

Energy: Storage

David Mackintosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of using energy storage to ensure that intermittent renewable sources of energy can be part of the UK's energy mix.

Andrea Leadsom: Renewable energy technologies have successfully been part of the UK energy mix for many years. Storage could help maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of low carbon energy. It is one of a number of flexible solutions which could be used, for example, demand-side response, interconnection with other countries and dynamic use of networks. We are investigating the potential barriers to deployment of these technologies, including energy storage, and possible mitigating actions, focussing in the first instance on removing regulatory and policy barriers. We will be publishing a call for evidence on a smart systems route map, including storage, shortly.

Pre-payment: Meters

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how many indebted prepayment meter customers there are in (a) Wakefield constituency and (b) the UK; and what the change in the number of such customers has been over the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy supplies’ performance and publishes information on the number of prepayment meters installed for debt in Great Britain each year. The data does not show how many prepayment meters were installed for indebted customers in the Wakefield constituency. The table below shows the number of prepayment meters installed to manage debt in GB in 2010 to 2014. Ofgem does not monitor the gas and electricity supply market in Northern Ireland, as it is devolved matter.  20102011201220132014Gas199,964184,726208,235226,999195,841Electricity227,352199,483211,519227,886175,348

Tidal Power: Research

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding her Department plans to make available for tidal energy research in the next financial year.

Andrea Leadsom: The Department is currently formulating its spending plans on innovation within HM Treasury guidance announced in the March 2016 budget and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Members: Correspondence

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth on 4 August 2015, and followed up on 11 December 2015, on behalf of a constituent, with regard to Government support for small-scale hydro power.

Amber Rudd: Unfortunately officials in the Department of Energy and Climate Change were unable to locate the original correspondence from the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth’s constituent. I can confirm that following an electronic copy being sent from your office on 12 April 2016, I have now responded on 13 April 2016.

Electricity: Scotland

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a cap and floor funding approach for the development of new pumped storage capacity in Scotland.

Andrea Leadsom: We are investigating the potential barriers to deployment of energy storage and possible mitigating actions, focussing in the first instance on removing regulatory and policy barriers. We will be publishing a call for evidence on a smart systems route map, including storage, shortly. In addition, DECC is in regular dialogue with prospective developers of new pumped hydro storage projects, both in and outside of Scotland, and is keen to understand the extent to which any barriers to deployment can be overcome in a way that is affordable to consumers.

Hinkley Point C Power Station

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the anticipated date is for the Hinkley Point C reactor to start transmitting electricity to the National Grid; and whether the proposed contract for that reactor includes punitive measures for delay beyond that date.

Andrea Leadsom: EDF have said that they expect Hinkley Point C to start generating electricity in 2025. The Contracts for Difference (CfD) payment term in the proposed contract is 35 years with a target commissioning date of 2025 for each reactor. The target commissioning window for each reactor is four years from its target commissioning date (subject to Force Majeure). In the event that either reactor is not commissioned by the end of its target commissioning window, the CfD payment term for that reactor is shortened commensurately for each day of delay through to the long stop date. If neither reactor has been commissioned by four years after the last day of the target commissioning window for reactor 2 i.e. November 2033 (the longstop date), the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) has the option to terminate the contract.

Radioactive Materials: Railways

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on the number and severity of incidents involving trains carrying nuclear material on the rail network.

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information her Department holds on the number and severity of incidents involving vehicles transporting nuclear material on the strategic road network.

Andrea Leadsom: Details of safety events involving the transport of nuclear material both by rail and on the strategic road network can be found in the following report: Events reported to Nuclear Safety Regulator 2001-2015: http://news.onr.org.uk/2016/02/events-reported-to-nuclear-safety-regulator-2001-15/

Cabinet Office

Public Consultation: Young People

Derek Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he plans to take to help give the views of young people greater prominence in policy decisions in their community.

Mr Rob Wilson: The Cabinet Office supports the Government’s commitment of giving young people the power and opportunity to play a real part in their community. We promote engagement, advocacy and consultation at both national and local level We support the British Youth Council (BYC) to deliver its ‘youth voice’ programme, including key activities such as the national annual Make Your Mark ballot, UK Youth Parliament, and the Youth Select Committee. Cabinet Office has committed to continuing its support for these activities for the remainder of the current Parliament.

Sick Leave

Tim Farron: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate the number of days of sickness absence taken for reasons of depression, anxiety or stress in each of the last three years.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - Sickness Absence
(PDF Document, 67.85 KB)

Electoral Register: Students

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to encourage voter registration amongst students before the EU referendum.

John Penrose: The Government has made it easier and more flexible for students to register to vote than ever before with the introduction of online registration. Students are now able to register at both term time and home addresses in just three minutes. Since June 2014, 3.8 million people aged 16-24 have applied to register to vote with 2.8 million of these applications made online. The Government is also working with Higher Education and Further Education bodies including the Association of Colleges and Universities UK to explore voter registration among students further.

Electoral Register: Children and Young People

Grahame Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Government intends to encourage electoral registration officers to prepare and execute strategies to maximise the proportion of (a) 16 and 17 year olds, (b) FE and HE students and (c) people aged 25 years and under registering to vote.

John Penrose: Electoral Registration Officers have a statutory duty to maintain the completeness and accuracy of their registers and are held accountable for meeting performance standards by the Electoral Commission. This includes implementing public engagement strategies to target under registered groups which includes young people. The Government has made available a range of free online learning resources on voter registration. These have been promoted to EROs using channels such as newsletters and Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) meetings.

Malnutrition

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of deaths in England caused by malnutrition in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - Deaths by Malnutrition
(PDF Document, 128.89 KB)

Electoral Register: Young People

Grahame Morris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to encourage the combination of electoral registration of 16 and 17 year olds with related (a) programmes of study and (b) extra-curricular activities in all English educational establishments.

John Penrose: The Government helps promote democratic participation in schools through the Citizenship curriculum. This part of the national curriculum is statutory at Key Stage 3 & 4 and helps to prepare pupils to play a full and active part in society. Pupils learn about democracy, government and how laws are made and upheld. The Government has also developed a number of learning resources, including Rock Enrol! This includes activities that discuss the importance of democratic engagement and can be used with young people in formal and informal educational environments.

Tax Avoidance

Mike Kane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether tax avoidance and the role of tax havens is expected to be discussed in plenary at the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London.

Matthew Hancock: This Government will continue to lead the international agenda to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. The Summit will address a range of measures to tackle corruption, including promoting transparency. Further information about the London Anti-Corruption Summit can be found on the summit web pages of the GOV.UK website.

Corruption

Mike Kane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to publish a draft agenda for the Anti-Corruption Summit to be held in May 2016.

Matthew Hancock: Information about the London Anti-Corruption Summit can be found on the summit web pages of the GOV.UK website. Further details about the summit will be announced in due course.

Job Creation

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new jobs have been created in each region and constituent part of the UK since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



Excel Attachment for Member - Jobs Created
(Excel SpreadSheet, 28.6 KB)




UKSA Letter to Member - Jobs Created
(PDF Document, 65.9 KB)

*No heading*

Ian Murray: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the share of income of the top one per cent of earners in Scotland was in each year since 1990.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - One Per Cent Earners
(PDF Document, 63.71 KB)

National Flood Resilience Review

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the responses to his Department's National Flood Resilience Review.

Mr Oliver Letwin: The report of the National Flooding Resilience Review is due to be published in the summer of 2016.

Children: Nationality

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many third generation children living in Britain are not British citizens.

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many third generation children of Jamaican descent living in Britain are not British citizens.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Letter to Member - Third Generation Children
(PDF Document, 66.71 KB)

House of Commons Commission

House of Commons: Stationery

Royston Smith: To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how much it costs to post a franked envelope from the House of Commons.

Tom Brake: The cost of postage for a bespoke DL sized pre-paid envelope, supplied to Members through the House provided stationery budget, is as follows:1st class – £0.642nd class – £0.55The cost of postage on a pre-paid envelope is the same as a stamp. Franked mail, used by departments of the House, is cheaper than pre-paid envelopes as franking is paid for in bulk and in advance which generates a slight discount to the price; costs are:1st Class small envelope under 100g – £0.522nd Class small envelope under 100g – £0.391st Class large envelope under 100g – £0.812nd Class large envelope under 100g – £0.65However, there are restrictions on where this can be sent from. 30 items or less can be sent from a standard post box but must be bundled and separated from standard mail; in excess of 30 items must be sent via a Post Office, Royal Mail Centre or Delivery Office or Business Post Box.The list below details the different postage costs for envelopes which are available to Members through the bespoke stationery catalogue.HC23-244S£0.55HC23-245£0.55HC23-146S£0.64HC23-246S£0.55HC23-147S£0.64HC23-247S£0.55HC23-149WS£0.64HC23-249WS£0.55HC23-150£5.50HC23-151£2.85HC228£0.55HC129£1.27HC229£1.20HC130£1.27HC230£1.20HC3-16£0.64HC85£0.55HC86A£0.55HC23-146EU£1.05

Department of Health

Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of patients who will have to use other hospitals if Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is closed.

Ben Gummer: No estimate has been made. These are matters for the National Health Service.

General Practitioners

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what statutory duty there is on individual general practitioners to provide notice of closure of a GP practice to NHS England or clinical commissioning group.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what statutory duty there is on NHS England or clinical commissioning groups to provide notice of closure of a GP practice to its patients.

Alistair Burt: GP Contract regulations require a practice to give NHS England written notice of their intention to terminate their contract. Where the contract is with a partnership, the contract terminates six months from the date of the notice. In the case of a single handed practice, the contract terminates three months from the date of the notice.There is no specific statutory duty on NHS England to notify patients of the closure of a practice however the National Health Service Act 2006 requires NHS England to ensure the provision of primary medical services throughout England.However, NHS England take the closure of a practice very seriously and will look to engage with patients at the earliest opportunity.

General Practitioners

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the NHS budget spent on general practice in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of NHS funding was provided to GP surgeries in each of the last five years

Alistair Burt: NHS England has confirmed that the funding it invests in general practice will increase by an average of 4.5% each year from 2016/17 to 2020/21.The below table shows the proportion of spend on general practice for each of the last five years for which data is available. The figures for spend on general practice are taken from the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s Investment in General Practice 2011-2015 report, which is the most comprehensive source of data on investment in general practice. The NHS Revenue Expenditure data is taken from the Department’s accounts.2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/15NHS Revenue Expenditure under Clear Line of Sight Rules (£ billion)97.47100.27102.57106.5110.56Spend on general practice (£ billion)8.3508.3978.4598.7669.001Spend on General Practice as a proportion of total8.6%8.4%8.2%8.2%8.1%

Pharmacy

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with community pharmacies on the proposals for a pharmacy access scheme.

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that community pharmacies are not adversely affected by the localising of clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries.

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to provide information to pharmacies on proposed changes to the community pharmacy sector.

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.

Alistair Burt: Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.We have been in detailed discussions with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) since December 2015 regarding the Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, including the proposal for a Pharmacy Access Scheme. In parallel, we also want to hear views on our proposals from across the sector and from patient groups. We published our open letter to the PSNC on 17 December 2015 and on 27 January 2016 we published a set of slides setting out the proposals with a foreword by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.Once we have carefully considered the outcomes from the consultation, we are looking to communicate final decisions as soon as possible, so that pharmacy contractors are fully informed some months before the funding reduction starts from October 2016.The role of the general practice pharmacist is distinct from the role of the pharmacist in a community setting. However, they are synergistic. Pharmacists working in general practice will, in the main, work with patients who have long term conditions to support them with their medicines and self-management of their condition by helping with the development and review of individual care plans. These patients will not generally be those with minor illnesses which can be treated by seeing a pharmacist in a community setting and for whom community pharmacy will remain the first, and most appropriate, option.

Learning Disability: Nurses

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the Royal College of Nursing's report, Connect for Change: an update on learning disability services in England, published in February 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 21 March 2016 to Question 31106. As of 24 March 2016, the Department has received no further representations concerning the Royal College of Nursing’s report, Connect for Change: An update on learning disability services in England.

Motor Vehicles: Smoking

Mr Robert Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with police forces on the level of enforcement of legislation on smoking in vehicles with children present; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Discussions are ongoing between Departmental officials and the relevant authorities about enforcement action. Guidance on the enforcement process has been sent to police forces and, as with other smokefree legislation, we expect high levels of compliance with this change.

Diabetes: Leicestershire

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many diabetes specialist nurses there are in (a) Leicester General Hospital, (b) Leicester Royal Infirmary, (c) Glenfield Hospital and (d) Leicestershire.

Ben Gummer: The Health and Social Care Information Centre provides information on the number of nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed in the National Health Service in England but it does not separately identify diabetes specialist nurses. It is for local NHS organisations with their knowledge of the healthcare needs of their local population to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses.

HIV Infection

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what responsibility NHS England has to fund HIV prevention programmes.

Jane Ellison: From 2013, local authorities became responsible for the commissioning of most sexual health services, including the testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted infections and HIV testing and prevention. NHS England is responsible for commissioning of treatment for HIV.

NHS Trusts: Staff

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue guidance to NHS trusts on ensuring future reductions in frontline staff numbers are not made for the purpose of reducing trusts' deficits.

Ben Gummer: The National Health Service has taken a number of steps to reduce trusts’ deficits. We have introduced tough new financial controls to cut down on waste in the NHS – including clamping down on rip-off staffing agencies and expensive management consultants, and introducing central procurement rules.We are also introducing a £2.1 billion Sustainability and Transformation Fund in 2016/17 to support providers to move to a financially sustainable footing. This will give the NHS the space to transform services so they are world class for decades to come.The purpose of these actions is to put NHS finances on a sustainable footing to ensure high quality care, now and in the future.Trusts should focus on the numbers and skillmix needed to deliver quality care, patient safety and efficiency, taking into account local factors such as acuity and casemix.Two communications to NHS trusts (a letter on safe staffing and efficiency dated 13 October 2015 from NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence; and a letter dated 15 January 2016 from Chief Executive-designate of NHS Improvement, Jim Mackey, and the CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards) asked trusts to consider quality and finances on an equal footing in their planning decisions; stated that it is not the case that NHS trusts could only achieve their financial targets at the expense of quality, or that improving quality is more important than staying in financial surplus; and emphasised that responsibility for staffing rests (as it has always done) with trust boards.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason NHS England decided not to proceed with the Truvada commissioning process; and what plans the Government has to make that drug available on the NHS.

Jane Ellison: NHS England does not now consider pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV is suitable for prioritisation of specialised commissioning spend as it is a preventative measure. However given the potential benefits in this area, NHS England is keen to build on the work to date and will be making available up to £2 million over the next two years to run a number of early implementer test sites. These will be undertaken in conjunction with Public Health England and will seek to answer the remaining questions around how PrEP could be commissioned in the most cost effective and integrated way to reduce HIV and sexually transmitted infections in those at highest risk.

Mental Health Services: Out of Area Treatment

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Minister for Social Care's oral contribution of 3 December 2015, Official Report, column 608, what progress his Department has made on putting in place a national ambition to reduce the number of adults sent out-of-area for acute inpatient mental health care.

Alistair Burt: In-line with the recommendations of the Independent Mental Health Taskforce published in February 2016, we have set a national ambition to eliminate inappropriate out of area treatments for adult acute inpatient care as a result of local acute bed pressures by 2020/21 at the latest. To achieve this ambition we expect areas to put in place local action plans and achieve year on year reductions from 2016/17.

Hospitals: Administration

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the administrative costs as a proportion of spending were of (a) the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and (b) every other acute hospital in England in 2014-15.

Alistair Burt: As a provider of front line services, costs incurred by acute hospitals do not contribute to the Administration budget allocated to the Department. Therefore, for the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and all other acute hospitals in England, none of the total expenditure incurred in 2014-15 was considered to be administrative cost.

Sleep Apnoea

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what consideration his Department is giving to the fast tracking for treatment for vocational drivers with obstructive sleep apnoea as part of NICE's approach to clinical guidelines and quality standards.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the planned timetable is for the scoping exercise for special provisions, including fast tracking for treatment, for people with obstructive sleep apnoea who drive for a living.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been asked to develop a clinical guideline and quality standard on sleep disordered breathing (including obstructive sleep apnoea). NICE will develop the scope of the clinical guideline, including the key questions that will be addressed by the guidance, in consultation with stakeholders.NICE has advised that there is currently no timetable for developing this guidance.

Brain: Research

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what analysis his Department or NHS England has undertaken of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the Corsellis Brain Collection; and if he will place any such analysis in the Library.

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will direct West London Mental Health Trust to consider mothballing or other alternatives to dismantling the Corsellis Brain Collection.

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the contribution of the Corsellis Brain Collection to medical research and health improvement in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: Started in the early 1950s by Professor Nick Corsellis at Runwell Hospital, in recent years the Corsellis Collection of brain pathology specimens has been managed and maintained by West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT). The excess costs of maintaining the collection can only be supported by WLMHT from funds received for patient care. Therefore WLMHT has decided to dispose of the collection by seeking expressions of interest in the brain tissue of value for research, mainly sub-collections of the less common pathologies, and to respectfully dispose of that tissue for which no scientific purpose could be envisaged. WLMHT has received expressions of interest, but none in taking the complete collection. The original timescale for closure was by the end of March 2016, but WLMHT will support a further three months activity to meet the additional requests for tissue samples. The collection will close by the end of June. The Department and NHS England have not made any specific assessment of the contribution of the collection to medical research and health improvement in the United Kingdom, or undertaken any specific analysis of the potential effect on medical research of dismantling the collection. The Medical Research Council supports a range of brain tissue banks which have been set-up around specific disorders and diseases generally to collect post-mortem brain tissue from consented donors.

Infant Foods

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 2007 to ensure that customers can use discount vouchers to purchase formula in supermarkets.

Jane Ellison: The restrictions on promotional sales of infant formula are an important aspect of the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 2007 which implement the World Health Organization International Code on the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. There are no plans to amend this part of the Regulations. While the Department encourages exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life because of the significant health benefits to both mothers and babies, we recognise that infant feeding choices are complex and based on individual and family circumstances, and therefore, low income households have access to the Healthy Start Scheme and may use the vouchers to purchase infant formula.

Epilepsy

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2016 to Question 32057, on Epilepsy Death, for what reasons his Department made the decision to retire quality and outcomes framework indicators EP002 and EP003 in 2014.

Alistair Burt: Senior NHS England clinicians and representatives of the British Medical Association reviewed and agreed all the proposed changes to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) taking into account the views of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Public Health England. The removal of QOF indicators will not mean that general practitioners (GPs) will no longer tackle important health issues, rather, the aim is that reducing QOF will help free up time to enable GPs to spend more time on providing more proactive coordinated and individual care for their patients, based on their clinical judgement. The reduction in the number of QOF indicators was intended to reduce bureaucracy, unnecessary patient testing and unnecessary frequency of patient recall and recording.

*No heading*

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups and local authorities are jointly commissioning children's palliative care as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.

Ben Gummer: The Department does not collect information centrally on commissioning of children’s palliative care by clinical commissioning groups. Clinical commissioning groups have responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting the needs of those requiring children’s palliative care services, considering the full range of local provision, both statutory and voluntary sectors and the wishes of children and young people and their families.The Children and Families Act 2014 requires joint commissioning arrangements between local authorities in England and their partner commissioning bodies for children and young people with special educational need and disability. It does not require clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to jointly commission children’s palliative care.

Maternity Services: Digital Technology

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department and NHS England have had with the National Information Board on developing a digital maternity tool as recommended in the National Maternity Review.

Ben Gummer: To date there have been no formal discussions with the National Information Board (NIB) in relation to developing a maternity digital tool. Baroness Cumberlege, Chair of the National Maternity Review, has been a member of the NIB since December 2015. We understand that Baroness Cumberlege has had informal discussions with the NIB Chair regarding the Maternity Review.The digital technology workstream for the implementation of the maternity review will support the rollout of patient-held digital maternity records and the development of a digital tool to support expectant parents with access to improved information to support their pregnancy, choice and connection to peers.This work will embed the ambitions outlined by the NIB in relation to supporting greater self-care through digital services and tools, paper-free at the point of care.

Junior Doctors: Job Satisfaction

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the state of morale among junior doctors.

Ben Gummer: The most recent assessment of the state of morale among junior doctors was from engagement scores in the 2015 NHS Staff Survey published in February which showed a score for junior doctors of 3.85/5, up from 3.81/5 the previous year. On 11 February my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that a new national juniors’ contract will be introduced. He also announced a review into some wider and more deep-seated issues relating to junior doctors’ morale, wellbeing and quality of life, which will be led by Professor Dame Sue Bailey, the President of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The Government and junior doctors want to do the same thing by improving patient care at weekends. A contract that is safer for patients as well as fair and reasonable for junior doctors is a step towards that.